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Posts tagged ‘Sweet Potato’

I know, I know, this was not part of my menu plan of the week. But I didn’t expect to be cooking for 5 in the middle of the week and on real short notice. I had to think fast and make do with what I had on hand!

Frittatas are always a good alternative when faced with such a situation. All you need basically is eggs and milk. Then you can throw in whatever vegetables, fish, meats or even grains that you have on hand… or think you have anyway! I thought for sure I had a sweet potato left in my fridge, but upon verification, it turned out I didn’t after all! Alarmed, I immediately called a meeting with my memory and it quickly pointed out that I had used BOTH my sweet potatoes, one here and the other one here.

D’OH!

I ended up having to ask my ex to drop by the grocery store on his way here to get me one. Hey, I had already changed my plans once and this new plan included sweet potato! I was not going to change again! Plus, it wouldn’t have been the same without it! I mean seriously, you can’t have a sweet potato oven baked frittata without a sweet potato, now, can you?

Ingredients(serves 6)

4 tbsp cornmeal

Cooking spray or olive oil

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced

¾ cup water

2 cups broccoli florets

¼ cup bell peppers, finely chopped

½ cup sliced black olives

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup fresh parsley, chopped

8 eggs

¾ cup unsweetened soy milk

½ tsp paprika

¼ tsp ground coriander

¼ tsp cumin

¼ tsp sea salt

¼ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp hot chilli flakes

75g grated cheddar cheese

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375F. Coat a glass or ceramic baking dish with cooking spray (or brush lightly with olive oil). Add cornmeal and tilt dish in all directions to coat the sides and bottom with the cornmeal. Leave excess (if any) at the bottom, shaking from side to side to spread evenly. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion, salt and pepper and cook until golden, about 5 minutes. Add water and sweet potatoes, cover loosely and cook until potatoes start to become tender, about 3-5 minutes. Check often to make sure there is enough water; add more if necessary, but not too much; it needs to completely evaporate before you add in the rest of the vegetables.

Toss in broccoli florets, corn, black olives and bell peppers. Give this a good stir, cook for an additional minute or two then transfer delicately to reserved baking dish.

Combine milk and spices together in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in eggs and beat until well combined. Pour over vegetables and top with grated cheese.

Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until eggs are set and cheese starts to colour.

I got the inspiration for this dish when I saw that delicious looking cornbread on Monica’s The Yummy Life. It looked so unbelievably moist and yummy, I knew I had to make it sooner than later, but since I couldn’t eatjustthat, I had to find something to go with it. (Shouldn’t it have been the other way around?)

I figured some sort of soup would work great and decided to go with a sweet red bell pepper soup. Its sweet and mild taste would do a great job at toning down the heat of the cornbread and I find corn and bell peppers just go hand in hand. Good choice it was, great meal as well. I added a little bit of tofu for some added protein and texture. I was afraid it wouldn’t look good but, quite to the contrary, it added some very cool looking white velvety tiny little specks to the soup and they were quite pleasing both to the eye and the palate.

The cornbread? Oh my! It was exquisite. I think I could’ve eaten the whole pan. There was one piece left when we were all done eating and I had to take the plate away, else I would’ve eaten it. I decided to save it for my dad. I hope he likes it too. Seriously, that cornbread is just perfect. It has just the right amount of heat and cheese, and has a perfect balance between moisture and crunchiness. Hmmmm. I want some more. Give it a try, trust me, you won’t regret it!

Red Bell Pepper Soup

Ingredients(serves 3-4)

1 large onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 celery rib, sliced

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced

2 large red bell peppers, diced (reserve a few dices for garnish)

150g extra firm tofu, diced

½ tsp black pepper

1 tbsp salted herbs

½ tsp paprika

Pinch cayenne pepper

3 cups water

1 cup buttermilk

0% plain greek yogurt

Flat leaf parsley

Instructions

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add all vegetables and seasoning and cook stirring frequently until they start to colour, about 10 minutes.

Add tofu cubes, cook for another 2 minutes.

Add water and stir to combine.

Puree in batches a food processor until smooth and creamy. Return to saucepan and add buttermilk. Reheat then ladle into bowls. Garnish with a dollop of plain yogurt, a few dices of pepper and flat leaf parsley.

Tracey, over at Tracey’s Culinary Adventures, gave me the inspiration for this dish . When I saw it, I thought that tart looked so amazingly good but I really didn’t like the idea of using so much butter in the crust. I think that, unfortunately, good old pie crust is a thing of the past for me… It requires way too much fat to be a part of my regular diet. But I refuse to cross pies entirely off my list! I like them way too much for that. I simply have to look for ways to make them a whole lot healthier.

Back to Tracey’s tart, I thought that the “bready” crust I had used for my rustic spinach feta galette would work great! Then I thought maybe if I was going to use that crust, that I could do the exact same technique as the one I had used for said galette but change the stuffing to match that of the tart! Aaaah, now there’s a great idea!

From there, I totally forgot about the recipe and let my imagination run wild. I had to use sweet potatoes, as to me, that was the base ingredient. I also wanted chestnuts in there. And spinach was also a must. For some reason, I really wanted to try the spinach, chestnuts and sweet potato combination. I wasn’t convinced it was going to work well with the feta cheese but still, I had to try it. If it didn’t work out, then I could always make a few adjustments next time…

Well, I think I made a pretty good call in the end. No adjustments necessary here. I think all the flavours and textures complemented each other just fine. This is another keeper, for sure. Oh, and I have some leftover in the fridge, so now I look forward to trying it cold. I’m hoping it’ll be just as good as the spinach / feta version was!

In skillet, heat oil over medium heat; fry onions, stirring often, until caramelized, about 20 minutes. Every 2-3 minutes, add water, a few tablespoons at a time and let it evaporate completely before adding more. When onions are nice and caramelized, transfer to large bowl.

Add sweet potato and fry for 5-10 minutes, to give it a nice brown coloration. Add ¼ cup water and cook for another 5 minutes, until all water has evaporated. Transfer to bowl with onions.

Add spinach, in batches, and cook until wilted. Drain and squeeze out moisture. Mix into onions and potatoes, along with chestnuts, feta, cottage, egg, salt, pepper and nutmeg.